t
of boys. I had about half a dozen good fellows in view, and on Bob's
approval of them, he selected from his overplus six more as first choice
and four as second. It would take me a week of constant riding to see
all these men, and as Flood and Forrest had made up an outfit for the
latter from the former's available list, Quince and I saddled up and
rode away to hire outfits. Forrest was well acquainted in Wilson, where
Lovell had put up several trail herds, and as it joined my home county,
we bore each other company the first day.

A long ride brought us to the Atascosa, where we stayed all night. The
next morning we separated, Quince bearing due east for Floresville,
while I continued southeast towards my home near Cibollo Ford on the San
Antonio River. It had been over a year since I had seen the family, and
on reaching the ranch, my father gruffly noticed me, but my mother and
sisters received me with open arms. I was a mature man of twenty-eight
at the time, mustached, and stood six feet to a plumb-line. The family
were cognizant of my checkered past, and although never mentioning it,
it seemed as if my misfortunes had elevated me in the estimation of my
sisters, while to my mother I had become doubly dear.

During the time spent in that vicinity, I managed to reach home at night
as often as possible. Constantly using fresh horses, I covered a wide
circle of country, making one ride down the river into Goliad County of
over fifty miles, returning the next day. Within a week I had made up my
outfit, including the horse-wrangler and cook. Some of the men were ten
years my senior, while only a few were younger, but I knew that these
latter had made the trip before and were as reliable as their elders.
The wages promised that year were fifty dollars a month, the men to
furnish only their own saddles and blankets, and at that figure I
picked two pastoral counties, every man bred to the occupation. The trip
promised six months' work with return passage, and I urged every one
employed to make his appearance at headquarters, in Medina, on or before
the 15th of the month. There was no railroad communication through
Karnes and Goliad counties at that time, and all the boys were assured
that their private horses would have good pasturage at the home ranch
while they were away, and I advised them all to come on horseback. By
this method they would have a fresh horse awaiting them on their return
from the North with which to